Barking Mad

Adoption stories over thousands of transatlantic miles are a favourite with the media. But with the appropriate headline “We must be barking!” the Daily Mail manages to fill two whole pages with the story of a couple’s struggle to adopt…a dog, with the opening spiel: “He’s the emaciated puppy they fell in love with on holiday in the wilds of the Azores. Six months, £6,000 and 1,600 miles later, their dogged perseverance has paid off, and he’s one of the family.”

Charles Clarke’s five-year plan to reduce re-offending by putting more offenders to work in the community was embraced with colourful language by the tabloids. “Criminals doing forced labour will help to build Britain’s 2012 Olympic Stadium…modern-day chain-gangs will wear uniforms bearing the logo Community Payback,” The Daily Mirror said. The Sun preferred to use the word “lags,” to describe criminals, while the Daily Mail’s editorial came up with “villains.” What era were these hacks born in?. Jon Gaunt, Sun columnist has the best line of all: “Who care if we lock up more criminals than the rest of Europe….Big Ears Clarke needs to wake up and smell the coffee and realise he’s living in 21st Century Britain, not Toyland.”